Open your heart
Children's sermon
Object:
several corks in a bowl, a container of water
If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who
raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his
Spirit that dwells in you. (Romans 8:11)
Good morning, boys and girls. Today I brought a bowl full of corks with me. How many of you have ever played with or used a cork? (let them answer) Corks are interesting. We use corks to keep things like water in a bottle. Corks are somewhat soft and you can push them and they will squeeze themselves down to the size you need to close the bottle off so nothing will leak.
Corks can also do something else. As you can see, I have a bowl with several corks in it. They are just sitting there, not doing anything. They don't move, they are not closing off bottles because they are just sitting in the bowl. I am going to do something for the corks that they just love. I am going to pour some water into the bowl. Watch what happens to them. (pour the water in slowly so that the corks can begin to float one or two at a time depending on their size) What is happening to the corks? (let them answer) That's right, they are floating. Try to push the cork under the water and it will just pop right back up. The corks have come alive. They love to float.
The same thing is true with you and me when God gets inside of us. Without God, we are kind of lumpy. We get into trouble once in a while, but it doesn't matter because it has happened before and it will happen again. We are like corks in a bowl without any water. However, when the Spirit of God enters into your body, things come alive. You are up and ready for the world. You are filled with the Spirit. You love people and people love you. You become helpers, teachers, forgivers, and sharing people. The Spirit makes you have a new life just like the water did to the corks.
So don't be a lump. Don't just sit around expecting something bad to happen to you. Instead, open your heart to God and the Spirit will come in and give you a wonderful life to share with many others. Get a life; let God enter your body and fill you with a new Spirit. Amen.
Good morning, boys and girls. Today I brought a bowl full of corks with me. How many of you have ever played with or used a cork? (let them answer) Corks are interesting. We use corks to keep things like water in a bottle. Corks are somewhat soft and you can push them and they will squeeze themselves down to the size you need to close the bottle off so nothing will leak.
Corks can also do something else. As you can see, I have a bowl with several corks in it. They are just sitting there, not doing anything. They don't move, they are not closing off bottles because they are just sitting in the bowl. I am going to do something for the corks that they just love. I am going to pour some water into the bowl. Watch what happens to them. (pour the water in slowly so that the corks can begin to float one or two at a time depending on their size) What is happening to the corks? (let them answer) That's right, they are floating. Try to push the cork under the water and it will just pop right back up. The corks have come alive. They love to float.
The same thing is true with you and me when God gets inside of us. Without God, we are kind of lumpy. We get into trouble once in a while, but it doesn't matter because it has happened before and it will happen again. We are like corks in a bowl without any water. However, when the Spirit of God enters into your body, things come alive. You are up and ready for the world. You are filled with the Spirit. You love people and people love you. You become helpers, teachers, forgivers, and sharing people. The Spirit makes you have a new life just like the water did to the corks.
So don't be a lump. Don't just sit around expecting something bad to happen to you. Instead, open your heart to God and the Spirit will come in and give you a wonderful life to share with many others. Get a life; let God enter your body and fill you with a new Spirit. Amen.
